Rick Derringer plays Brockton

Sunday

Feb 11, 2018 at 2:37 AM

DERRINGER PLAYS BROCKTON ON SATURDAY NIGHT By Jay N. Miller For The Patriot Ledger There's no set schedule or tours laid out months in advance for rocker Rick Derringer these days. Basically he just performs as often as he can, and as often as his typically busy schedule permits, because he still gets a kick […]

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DERRINGER PLAYS BROCKTON ON SATURDAY NIGHT

By Jay N. MillerFor The Patriot Ledger

There's no set schedule or tours laid out months in advance for rocker Rick Derringer these days. Basically he just performs as often as he can, and as often as his typically busy schedule permits, because he still gets a kick out of pleasing his fans.

“I have no designed schedule, but I work whenever it makes sense,” said Derringer this week from his home in Manatee County, Florida. “I still love to play concerts for audiences, so I do it as much as I can. What the heck, Ringo is still out there doing it, and he's what? 76?”

Derringer's lengthy music resume' includes a stint on Ringo's All Starr Band back in 2011, but more to the point, Derringer and his band will be headlining Brockton's Shaw Center on Saturday night.

As is typical of his five-decade career in rock ‘n' roll, Derringer is still doing multiple things at once, working in production, writing new music, and occasionally lending his talents to other artists' projects. Most fans first became aware of Derringer around 1965 as the airwaves were taken over by the infectiously soulful “Hang On Sloopy,” by a young band from Ohio called The McCoys, led by the singer-guitarist who was born as Rick Zehringer. Over the years there has been confusion over how the song arrived, as a group called The Strangeloves also released their version around that same time.

“I had probably started my first band when I was ten years old,” said Derringer, now 70. “We changed our band name over the years, becoming the Ricky Z Combo at one point, and then Rick and the Raiders. But then the group Paul Revere and the Raiders came along and hit it big, and we knew we had to change that name again. We went back to our original band name, which was The McCoys. We created the track for ‘Hang On Sloopy” together, and had that one ready for release. In the meantime, the Strangeloves heard our demo and used it to guide their version. Some people reported that the hit was my vocal and their track, but that's not right–the hit version is me singing with my band, The McCoys.”

Not long after that initial blast of fame, Derringer hooked up with a pair of talented Texas brothers, and would spend much of the next few years performing as part of the bands of both Johnny and Edgar Winter. One of his songs had been on a Johnny Winter album, where it hadn't garnered much attention. But when Derringer did a solo album in 1974, he featured “Rock ‘n' Roll Hootchie Koo” and it became his biggest single.

“That song is just as well liked as ever,” said Derringer. “If you look for it on Youtube, there's a fifteen-to-twenty minute video of a guy promoting ‘Rock ‘n' Roll Hootchie Koo' as the best rock song ever, and I certainly won't argue with that. But fans still love to hear it, and we love to do it. Country star Miranda Lambert has made it part of her act in recent years, so it still has a wide resonance for all kinds of music fans.”

But Derringer's reputation as a sterling guitarist was permeating the rock world by that time, and he began popping up everywhere, as either a special guest, sideman, or studio gunslinger, brought in to spice up other artists' work. His guitar work appears on several Steely Dan albums in the mid-1970s, including the '73's “Countdown to Ecstasy” and '75's iconic “Katy Lied.” In the 1980s Derringer worked more as a producer, where he had equally stunning success. Derringer produced six of Weird Al Yankovic's comedy/rock albums, including the hit parody songs “Eat It” and “Fat,” and one of those Yankovic albums earned a Grammy.

Derringer also worked with Todd Rundgren, and then in the mid-80s got together with the World Wrestling Federation, creating theme songs for some of their stars, and crafting a couple albums of WWF-related rock. But the breadth of his musical work has always been mind boggling, and most fans will be surprised to hear that one of Derringer's all time favorite guitar solos is the one he contributed to Air Supply's “Making Love Out of Nothing At All.”

“That is true, that Air Supply solo is one of my favorites,” said Derringer. “But there is a lot of stuff that we still do in my shows too. Like (Edgar Winter's hit instrumental) “Frankenstein,” which I was part of and probably suggested the name of the tune to Edgar, or “Free Ride,” which we also do. I've worked with so many great people, like Steely Dan. But my wife, Jenda, has heard all of the stories and she keeps telling me to talk not so much about them, as about me and the shows my band and I are still doing.”

“We talk about all of these things at my shows, and I prefer a sort of ‘inter-active show,' where I'm not the only one allowed to talk,” Derringer explained. “So it is kind of a storyteller's show, and people can ask questions–I like it when the audience is part of the show. But if anyone is on the fence about coming to the show, tell them to go because we go over all of the things in my career and it is a lot of fun.”

Derringer's touring band includes bassist Charley Torres, who's been with him for forty years. Drummer Ken Moutenot is ‘the new guy,' having joined the trio six years ago.

“This band has been with me a long time, and we can do everything from my career,” said Derringer. “If you look back at my albums through the years, a lot of times I had the second guitarist, or maybe a keyboardist with me. But these days I just like the sound of the trio–I wonder why I ever needed those added musicians. These guys who perform with me could be dubbed ‘living legends' in their own right, that's how good they are, and how happy I am to have them.”

Derringer is a self-proclaimed ‘Jesus freak' these days, and recent years have seen him produce and perform on several Christian music albums. A related project took up much of his past year, as he collaborated with documentarian Trace Smith on a 2-DVD set “The Holy Land,” and is also working on a companion album.

“I ended up working with Trace Smith on this project, based on our trip, which had nothing to do with music,” said Derringer. “Part of the idea was proving Exodus, and we went from the extreme north to the southernmost part of Israel, and also into Palestine. We saw every place Jesus lived and had significant events or miracles in his life, like Masada–all the famous places. The album I just finished is not a soundtrack for the DVDs, but a new CD I created specifically to go with the DVD package. people can buy the two DVDs separately or together, and also buy the CD, either as part of the whole package or separately. You can go to Youtube and look for “Rick Derringer/Holy Land” or go to Trace's website, www.Godinanutshell.com, and see a half-hour preview of the documentary for free.”

Derringer is also working on a couple of upcoming music projects, one that he notes will have a secret title, and another one that is continuing his forays into blues-based rock. His most recent new album is 2009's “Knighted by the Blues.”

“I played a lot with Edgar and Johnny Winter, remember, so I always loved the blues as well as rock,” Derringer pointed out. “Over the past 20 years or so I've been able to stretch out a bit more in that blues direction.”

Two recent projects have sports related themes. Derringer's 1980's entrance music theme for Hulk Hogan, “Real American,” was revived as a political intro theme in 2016 by several politicians, including Donald Trump. Derringer went back and re-wrote a few of its lines to update it, and debuted the re-boot on Alex Jones' radio show.

“Real American' was never released as a single, even though it was popular right away with the Hulk and his fans,” said Derringer. “In some ways it has become a new anthem, and I was happy to make a new version.”

Last year, Derringer combined with baseball stars Tom Seaver and Gary Redus for a new and revitalized rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” and he noted it's always a challenge to inject new energy into such a familiar old tune.

But there's still plenty of energy in Derringer's rock ‘n' roll showmanship.

“Saturday night in Brockton I am guaranteeing a great show,” he said. “It's going to include most if not all of the great music we've done over the past 50 years, and I have great musicians with me. We'll be celebrating all that, and also, coming up is my 21st wedding anniversary, and we'll be celebrating that too.”

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